The night sky had long rolled in by the time my front door had finally opened. For the past three hours I’ve had dinner cooked and waiting for my fiancé to take a bite of the warm food. Now it was cold and packed away inside the refrigerator. Yet here I am, still sitting at the dining table waiting for him to show his face. If there were a text or phone call saying that he wouldn’t show up then I wouldn’t care. Chanyeol never did that though.

                He walked in with his face reddened from the winter air and began hanging up his black pea coat. I sat there quietly tapping my foot in frustration. Chanyeol turned and smiled at me but wiped his face clear of any emotion the moment he saw my body language. I was mad and I wasn’t going to hide it.

“What’s wrong Baek,” he asked as if nothing was wrong.

“Where have you been all night?”

                Chanyeol sighed and sat at the table where his dinner was set several hours ago, but no longer stood there. I could literally see his brain scattering for answers that would please me or calm down my temper, but it was no use. I wanted the truth and he knew that.

“One of my patients was released today. I had to make sure that he had a decent home to go back to since his family is dead.”

“Since when were you checking on the homes of your patients? That was never in your job description or something you’ve done before. What made you do that?”

“He’s a young guy, Baek. His mind is still like a child so I can’t just leave him out alone on the street.”

                Hearing the news that my fiancé was out all night with my best friend shocked me. I froze for a moment completely aware of the situation. The past few weeks Sehun has been wearing clothes and pajamas that Chanyeol is buying for him personally. If it was an everyday patient I wouldn’t care so much, but Sehun was only with Chanyeol for two days. There is no way he could have made a friend that fast. I attempted to put my poker face back on and question Chanyeol without slipping my secret. He can’t know that I’ve been sneaking out every morning to visit Sehun. In fact, he can’t know that I personally know Sehun for all of my childhood. The truth that I was once in love will be found out.

“So you must be talking about Sehun, the kid who almost never woke up. Everyone at the hospital tells me about him. Why is he so special to you when he’s not your patient at all?”

“Um,” he stuttered trying to find an answer. “I don’t know I guess he just caught my eye. The point is he’s gone now and has a good home. Look I get your mad that I didn’t tell you I’d be out late, but you don’t need to question what I do at work. Let’s just go to bed.”

                The last possible thing Chanyeol should be doing is getting frustrated with me. He is hiding something and I can just feel it in my soul that something is very wrong. Secrets aren’t fun and not the best idea for two people who are going to be married soon. In ways I can see Sehun is already causing a divide in my relationship with Chanyeol and it’s only been month or so. If I continue on sneaking around with my best friend, I fear what will happen to Chanyeol and I in the future. Something has got to give, I just don’t know what.

                We both showered together like we usually do, but this time it wasn’t fun at all. Normally, a shower turns into play time where we soak each other with water and soap. Or it’s a romantic escape from reality and we kiss and touch under the warm waters. Tonight was just a quick cleaning of our bodies and off to bed. There was tension between the two of us, but I tried to ignore it as we climbed into our bed. Chanyeol pulled me close to him like he does every night and cuddled into me ready for sleep. Tomorrow is a new day, and probably a new set of problems. Hopefully none of them will involve Oh Sehun.

○○○○○○

                Today was a very important day for me. I woke up really early so I could get showered and dressed for my first day of school. Every beginning of a school year I can remember feeling super nervous and telling my mom I didn’t want to go. Of course I ended up going but only because my best friend Baekhyun would hold my hand as we walked together to our school. Neither Baekhyun or Mom are here so I need to do this on my own. Besides, I’m kind of excited to learn with Luhan hyung because he is really nice.

                Last night we stayed up together for a little bit just talking and getting to know each other. For some reason I can’t look at him for too long because I just want to smile at how handsome he is. I’ve never seen someone like hyung. I buttoned up my pants and fixed my shirt smiling at the thought of how lucky I was to have a teacher who is going to make me normal. The feeling of butterflies in my stomach just wouldn’t go away and it made me feel sick. I wasn’t nervous about school, I was nervous to be alone with Luhan.

                Jinki opened my door with a plate full of delicious breakfast foods perfectly arranged. He ruffled my hair before shutting the door behind him. He had to go downstairs and unlock the school because pretty soon all the students will come in for class. My hands were getting sticky from the maple syrup all over my pancakes that I ate so fast I barely remembered to taste my food. The door opened yet again, but this time Luhan walked in. Never in my life has my stomach formed butterflies in that little of time.

“Good morning Sehun,” Luhan smiled sitting next to me. “You look handsome today.”

“A-ah, thank you hyung,” I blushed trying to hide my sticky fingers.

“Today is your first day of class. Are you excited to be my student?”

“Yeah! I’m really glad you’re my teacher!”

                Luhan smiled at me grabbing my hands and wiping them gently with the wet cloth that Jinki had set aside. I could feel the syrup being cleaned off my fingers, but more importantly, I could feel my hyung nearly holding my hand. It was hard to stop my cheeks from blushing, but I knew I probably looked bright red right now. Luhan looked up to see my face and he smirked before standing up and heading towards the door. He just flicked his head showing me that it was time to go downstairs with him to start our day.

                The school I was now attending had a pretty open layout where there were only three or four rooms closed off for one on one teaching sessions. A lot of the children enjoyed being with other people, which is why there is one giant room where there are a bunch of colored tables and several fold-up white boards next to them. The wall on the far left had all the arts and craft supplies with finger paintings and crayon doodles just above the shelves. Everything to me looked nearly brand new. We removed our shoes near the entrance and placed them into a massive shoe rack before walking onto the carpeted floors of the main room.

                Luhan smiled seeing my face of shock as we stepped onto the grey carpet that felt as if I was walking on a cloud. It was a very thick carpet, almost like there was a layer of foam underneath it to make it incredibly soft. I think hyung said something about microfiber being under the carpet because sometimes kids can drop to the ground because they are very sick. At least the floor they fall onto will feel like pillows. To be perfectly honest, the main room did look more like a place for children and not a nineteen year old.

                My face showed concern and Luhan noticed as he gathered some materials we would be needing for today’s lesson. He called me over to help carry some things before reassuring me that I wasn’t a kid. Most of the students that come to this school will never get better and will forever act like a child or need their parents to survive. People with such diseases are appealed by the colorful walls and arts and crafts. I wasn’t sick like them. I’m just far behind other teenagers my age.

                We entered one of the closed off rooms where there was an office desk and then a separate table that looked fairly new. Luhan told me to sit at that table while he needed to get some items from his desk. This wasn’t a classroom. It was his personal office he changed into a place for me to learn. I knew that right away when I saw he had pictures all over the walls and filling cabinets placed in the corners. Now there was a white board on the wall next to my desk that had markers on it neatly hanging thanks to magnets.

                Luhan handed me a workbook and we began to learn about how to write Korean properly. He even said if I learn fast enough, he can teach me Chinese. I definitely want to learn Chinese so I can be more like hyung! Almost four hours went by until a knock at the door interrupted the story we were writing together. Luhan told who ever it was to come in, and who ever walked in made Luhan squint a little bit. It was someone wrapped up in a thick scarf and jacket.

“Hello,” the familiar voice said pulling down their scarf. “I came to say hi to Sehun. It’s nice to meet you Luhan.”

“Baekkie,” I shouted jumping out my seat and hugging my best friend. “What are you doing here?”

“Well I heard you left the hospital because you’re feeling much better. I thought maybe all three of us could go out to eat for lunch.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Baekhyun,” Luhan said with a blank face. “Lunch sounds great, so why don’t we head on out.”

                Maybe it’s just me, but it doesn’t seem like Luhan likes Baekkie that much, which doesn’t make sense because they only just met. Anyways, we all walked to a café not too far from the school and ate sandwiches and tea while talking about the school I now go to. Baekhyun seemed to really enjoy hearing about the school because he kept complimenting Luhan on how great of teacher he is. I learned that Baekkie works at a coffee shop a couple of blocks away while the two were getting to know each other. Luhan didn’t seem to mind my best friend, but still I could tell something was wrong between the two.

                Lunch lasted almost an hour and we had finished our food long before the conversations came to and end. Baekhyun now knows what I’ll be learning and how many months it will take me to catch back up to all other nineteen year olds. It seemed to me that my two very good friends now like each other and we may all hang out together more. Baekhyun waved goodbye to head to work while Luhan and I went back to class. Nervously, I wrapped my arm into his and smiled at him as we walked towards school. I’ll never understand why my heart beats so fast when he and I are alone…